Entering awards is a fantastic way of celebrating what you and your business have achieved. It cannot be overestimated how much winning an award can boost staff morale, increase business credibility and put your business in the limelight for all the right reasons.

But how do you write a winning entry?

The TCT Awards are looking for the top innovations and applications within the 3D printing and additive manufacturing industry, and we need you to show us why your entry should win out over your competitors. The SIX key areas to focus on are:

Read the Judging criteria and show examples for each area

You may have a fantastic application, but if you don’t relate it to the judging criteria and show the judges how your entry meets this then your application can’t shine.

Tell us about your collaborations

One of the key focuses of the TCT Awards is to celebrate collaborations between project partners across industries and functions – be it designers, engineers, service providers, OEM’s, end users or any other contributor. Please be sure to include in your application as much information as possible and help us to really celebrate those partnerships.

Answer every question

It may sound obvious, but it is imperative that you answer each question as fully and succinctly as possible, ensuring that an eloquently written paragraph also hits the right points to answer the question itself and not just dance around the subject!

Back up your answers with facts and evidence

Forget about the marketing jargon – we want to know who, what, where, how and why – with facts and figures to support this and evidence wherever possible. The more solid data the better. 

Be clear and concise

It is tempting to write reams of text to try to sell your entry, but it will be much easier to judge if you keep it simple, clear and on point (plus you will have the judges on your side before they even start!). This will allow the judges to focus on the merits of the innovation rather than trying to decipher what that innovation actually is!

Give yourself time

It can be surprising how long it can take to write a winning application form. Do yourself a favour and start as early as possible. Do it in stages so you can re-read with fresh eyes to ensure you cover all areas. Confer with your project partners to get different perspectives and inputs, ensuring you collate as much evidence from all team members as possible.  Once your entry is ready to submit, ask a colleague who has not been involved to proof read and make sure it makes sense to someone outside the project.